Haruka Weiser: Safe Horns continues to fight for improvements 9 years after UT student's murder

AUSTIN, Texas - It has been nine years since University of Texas student Haruka Weiser was brutally killed on campus. 

Since, an advocacy group of UT parents has been fighting to make safety improvements on campus.

The backstory:

A body was found in a creek on campus in April 2016.

"It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years. Sorry, it makes me emotional," Safe Horns President Joell McNew said.

McNew remembers that day.

"Around 10:30 in the morning, my son was a freshman at UT, and he called me asking me to look up, search for what was happening on the UT campus. He wasn't describing it, but I could tell something bad had happened," McNew said.

RELATED: Slain UT student Haruka Weiser remembered

Eighteen-year-old UT freshman, Haruka Weiser, had been raped and killed.

"For her family to entrust our city and our university with her, and for her to fall in love with UT, and for this brutal, brutal tragic murder, it was just too much," McNew said.

Meanwhile, Weiser’s father fights to ensure his daughter’s killer never gets out of prison.

"We will never know how many women he planned to rape or murder but the resting conviction of Mr. Criner means that he will never do this again," Haruka’s father, Dr. Thomas Weise, said in 2018.

Creation of Safe Horns

The backstory:

McNew said a group of UT parents wanted to make a change.

"It was really a call to action for us. We can't just sit there and keep talking about it, we need to do something," McNew said.

The advocacy group, Safe Horns, was created.

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Haruka Weiser: UT organization committed to improve safety, avoid another tragedy

It's been six years since University of Texas at Austin student Haruka Weiser was found murdered on campus. Organizations hope creating a safer area for students will avoid another tragedy like that again.

"First thing we did was parents and students came together, they looked at lighting on campus, vegetation, door locks, all the physical security and what caused them fear," McNew said.

From there, they went to work.

Dig deeper:

In 2020, the University of Texas System Board of Regents allocated $8 million for improvements to the West Campus neighborhood. Since, lighting in the area has been overhauled to eliminate dark areas that were crime hot spots. 

The West Campus Ambassador Program, which consists of a safety, cleaning, and hospitality team, was also implemented. Safe Horns opened Safe Horns Place on campus to host self-defense workshops and crime prevention sessions.

"All of us making these small victories along the way leaves a legacy for future students that we will 100% with pride say, yes, your students should be proud to go to UT, it is safe to go here, we are watching out for each other, we are committed to that," McNew said.

She said she hopes they can be guardians for others.